Kamen Rider Ryuki Episodes 22 & 23

EPISODES 22 & 23

I've always thought that the time limit in the Mirror World was sort of a cheat. The show's concept gets you to think "If fighting is so important, well...why doesn't someone like Kitaoka stay transformed all day and try to kill some people?" Well, the time limit. And now here the show's cutting us off before we ask "If Asakura's so nuts, why doesn't he stay transformed all day and try to kill some people?" by showing us him attempting to push past the limit. It ends up taking a toll on even him, and he just ends up blacking out once out of the Mirror World. So while it's great to finally have that nuts Rider who doesn't care and pushes past the limit, it's still a little frustrating that the writers concocted such a cheat, making things a little too convenient, at times, for a show that's supposed to be such a free-for-all.

Ren's finally come to his senses and is back on Team Atori. Sad thing is, when I'm rewatching this, I know it doesn't last long until he's willing to kill his dad and dog as long as it's for Eri and it's just repetitive whiplash with Shinji chasing after him all the time. (BTW, I find the scene of Ren and Shinji talking while navigating the rocky beachside to just be so awkwardly staged that I think it was a terrible directorial choice. And it also really doesn't seem like they're two guys who were lucky to just escape the brutal ass-whupping they got.)

Asakura ends up kidnapping Goro to lure Kitaoka into fighting, but Goro knows Kitaoka won't bite. This gets Ren -- knowing Goro's worried (and missing) to go yell at Kitaoka, and they end up fighting as Riders to a draw. Kitaoka maintains that his strength is that he only cares for and fights for himself, and Ren's trying to get Kitaoka to be concerned about Goro...it almost works! When Kitaoka's sitting at his desk and punches it in frustration before deciding to go and search for him (Goro returns before Kitaoka can do anything about it), I think Kitaoka's like "Damn! I do care." But you know Kitoaka, he's not really going to risk his own safety for anything, not even the one person who worships him. So he might care a *little* about him, but not enough to record that silly "Dear Friend" song with him.

But the more important stuff in these episodes is with Tetzuka. He finds an abandoned room full of mirrors (and curved mirrors) at the Kanzaki place, and also has an exchange with Shiro, who gives him the Survive Card. Tetzuka also gets a glimpse at the Mirror Monster Garudthunder, who wounds Tetzuka's hand. Tetzuka eventually reveals to Shinji that he became Raia because *his* dear friend, Yuuichi, was originally chosen, but refused to fight and was then killed by what ends up being Garudthunder. (BTW, I'm saying Garudthunder because...even though it's not winged, it seems to me like its name is based on Garuda, and since Garudthunder acts under Kanzaki's orders... That the thing looks like it could pass as Odin's Contract Monster is no accident is what I'm sayin'.)

I always felt like the show was pushing, as far as they could, the implication that Tetzuka and Yuuichi were a couple. You can make what you want to out of Raia being pink or having a long ponytail or that fortune-telling is often depicted as being a woman's thing in Japanese pop culture. For me, I think it's the way they film the scenes with Yuuichi. Look at the casting of Yuuichi, for one. You don't cast someone like that as just a bud, he's intentionally androgynous and soft-spoken. (Actor Takashi Nagayama actually just popped up in Zi-O last year as the guy who broke Yumiko Shaku's heart and mind in the Kiva two-parter. It was really hard to buy him in that role.) They film Yuuichi's concerts by having Tetzuka watch him lovingly. The biggest tell is the scene of Yuuichi's attack, when they're both just taking a stroll on a snowy winter night. I mean...that's one of the cliched things you'll find in a romantic montage in a toku! The couple out shopping on a snowy night. Lastly, Tetzuka's reaction to Yuuichi's being pulled to his death in the Mirror World. I think it might be second only to Takeru's "MIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the Maskman premiere, and you know how much that sonuvabitch loved Mio.

So, unlike everyone else, I wasn't all that surprised by Rider Time's attempt at shock value. I was surprised Tetzuka would be with someone like Shibaura, and how different Tetzuka was, and I should save it for the Rider Time section, but I'll cover a couple of things in a minute.

So, Kanzaki knows that Yuuichi is attacked and loses his ability to play piano and thinks he's a good candidate to be a Rider -- he can wish to be healed. But Yuuichi refuses, he doesn't want to fight anyone, he'd rather stay wounded than fight someone. Now, the question I have is...did Kanzaki REALLY misread Yuuichi or DID he sense a darkness in Yuuichi that he thought made him a candidate? If Yuuichi wasn't as peaceful as he says, if there WAS some resentment or hatred within him, it might help explain where Tetzuka ends up in Rider Time. (That Yuuichi survived in that timeline, but grew to be bitter could have caused problems that changed Tetzuka for the worse, whereas in the show, a kindhearted Yuuichi dying when and how he does, puts Tetzuka on a better path, inspiring him, motivating him to be a hero. It's similar to Ren and Eri, which is why I think Inoue makes Tetzuka an ex of Eri's and friend of Ren's in the 13 Riders Special, as a way to compare them and highlight their similarities.)

We get some glimpses of darkness in Tetzuka throughout the show -- sometimes, he's quick to snap at Shinji if Shinji doubts him -- and here it's in his absolute obsession in killing Garudthunder when he sees it, even holding Ryuki back and yelling at him. (Even Ryuki's like "Chill out, bro. You're acting weird.") He also harbors a lot of guilt over Yuuichi, because his death is something he foresaw, but was still unable to prevent. So, while Tetzuka's the only other truly heroic Rider in Ryuki other than Ryuki, I can understand a little bit the decision to depict him in a villainous way in Rider Time, even if I think that special was too rushed and low budget to give it the development it needed. (Which might have made it easier to forgive the decision to have him be villainous.)

Kanzaki's such a cruel, vicious guy, though. He tries to goad Tetzuka into fighting more by giving him the Survive card. He then attacks Tetzuka with the monster that killed Yuuichi. (Attacking the same hand/arm as Yuuichi's.) One of his reasons in choosing Asakura was because he was the one who wounded Yuuichi. And then he finally gets Tetzuka to fight by telling him that Yuuichi ended up regretting not being a Rider, and immediately leading Asakura to him. Kanzaki's line about Yuuichi interests me, because it sounds like it's just a taunt, but he says it with certainty and, again, there's a supernatural aspect to Kanzaki, like...maybe he DOES know that's how Yuuichi ended up feeling. Similarly, Tetzuka has a supernatural ability, so...the show should have dealt with this supernatural aspect more, but perhaps they didn't want to right after Agito. (Being right after Agito is why I assume there's not a doctor amongst the 13 Riders, because you know Kanzaki could have easily found a candidate in that profession.)

Tetzuka's roped into fighting because Asakura threatens the surrounding crowds. Having foreseen Shinji's death, he's mortified once Ryuki shows up to help him. I'm glad the show played it that Tetzuka claimed it was his own death he saw. Maybe it's predictable he'd die since he wasn't a regular, but if he had flat out said it was Shinji he saw, it would mean nothing. We wouldn't buy it, because we know they're not going to kill off the titular hero in episode 23. So it's a rug-pulled-beneath-you moment when Tetzuka reveals the truth, and you can go back and watch that fight and realize how close Tetzuka's prediction came to being true, because Ouja wipes the Mirror World with Ryuki. (I love when he offers Ryuki the choice of which Final Vent he wants to be killed with. "Pick a card." Kanzaki probably regrets not finding Asakura sooner, since Asakura LOVES being a Rider.) But Raia steps in and takes the hit for Ryuki. And Tetzuka gets to die with some peace -- his ability didn't allow him to save Yuuichi, but it allowed him to save someone as good as Yuuichi, who he realizes is going to have a big impact on things. I've always wondered why Tetzuka decides to give the Survive card to Ren and not Shinji, though.

On the Kanzaki Mystery front, Tetzuka realizes Yui's the more important figure in things than Shiro, and they realize the photo Yui has -- of what looks to be of her and Shiro as kids in the window of the Kanzaki residence -- has to be recent, because a train's reflected in the house's windows and it was a newly installed line. Here's another supernatural thing! It sounds like ghosts, right? This sounds like it should probably be some reflective/Mirror World versions of Yui and Shiro, but the show goes nowhere with this because I'm guessing plans have changed. (More on this in Episode Final coverage.)

And I kinda feel like these episodes are the first that are just blatantly shoving it into your face that they don't care about the point of return -- only being able to leave the Mirror World from where you entered it. There's no way Ryuki would have been able to get himself and Raia out of the Mirror World, seemingly together, because Raia had been in there fighting for longer than Ryuki, so Shinji would have had no real way of knowing where Tetzuka transformed and entered unless, like, Kanzaki popped up and told him. (And why would he?) Similarly, Asakura uses Venosnaker and the Mirror World as means to kidnap Goro-chan and...the only way that would have really worked is if Asakura used that nearby car and hot-wired it to take to his destination, but I don't think that's the case. Things like this show that the staff are starting to slip and not care or be consistent with maintaining their own rules or quality.